New Dutch EU presidency vows tough line on refugees

AMSTERDAM — Tough on migration numbers, soft on Poland: those were the two takeaway EU messages Thursday as the Dutch government launched its presidency of the bloc, which it will hold for the next six months.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Europe's first priority on refugees was to improve efforts to curtail the flow of asylum-seekers arriving into the EU, which reached record numbers in 2015. “The numbers have to come down very much, very considerably," he told a group of reporters, many of whom had been bused from Brussels to the Dutch capital for the occasion. "We cannot continue with present numbers.”

Key to that effort, according to both Rutte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is ensuring the creation of a new, beefed-up EU border guard — an ambitious plan supported by EU leaders at a summit in December.

Rutte offered no specifics on how he would make that happen during the Dutch presidency, saying only that “we will discuss [the issue] every month” in regular meetings of EU interior ministers.

"We are a long way from being satisfied” on the bloc's refugee response — Frans Timmermans

The statements came during a catch-all press conference at which the Dutch government and the Commission laid out their priorities for the coming half-year and beyond. Effectively addressing the migration crisis continues to prove challenging for EU leaders, with the bloc falling far short of its promised actions, especially on the relocation of refugees already in Europe.

Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans, who is Dutch, told reporters: “Of course we need to do more” to reduce refugee numbers.

Asked whether the EU's deal with Turkey to register and accommodate refugees is working, Timmermans said the “first results are encouraging but we are a long way from being satisfied.”

Juncker saved his harshest words for national governments that have been re-introducing border controls in response to the refugee flows.

“We have to save Schengen and bring Schengen back to where it belongs,” the Commission president said. “We cannot go on with this process where day after day another member state is reintroducing border controls.”

Rutte also delivered a tough warning to Greece and to Central and Eastern European EU countries that have been reluctant to do more to support refugees.

"The Dutch government believes that promises should be kept," Rutte said. "This will be a guiding principle of the Dutch presidency.”

'We are not Poland-bashing'

Timmermans told reporters that Poland has yet to respond to his demands for clarification about changes to the country's media law, the EU response to which will be the subject of a Commission debate next week.

Many politicians have criticized the Polish actions and called for the EU to impose sanctions, but Juncker and Rutte sought to calm the waters.

Asked whether he could foresee use of Article 7 of the EU treaties to punish Poland for breaching fundamental rights of citizens, Juncker said: “We are not there and I do not think we will come to that point. Let’s not over-dramatize. It’s an important issue but we have to have constructive relations … We are not Poland-bashing.”

Rutte declined to give his personal views of the Polish actions, but said he wanted to “give this procedure, this process a fair chance… The debate in the College is one of the first steps in this process.”

Overall, the Commission and Dutch government sought to present an unexpectedly united front as they kicked off the Netherlands' presidency.

Guided by the Dutch watchword of “pragmatism,” Rutte tried to align himself with a Commission he has frequently criticized in the past, saying, “We fully support the priorities of the European Commission.”

In explaining that today's greatest challenges could not be solved by individual countries alone, Rutte even sounded like an EU commissioner or president in the making.

Juncker backed him up. "We are in total agreement with the Dutch government," he said. "There are not even nuances between the intentions of the Dutch presidency and the Commission.”

Other issues the Dutch will press include deepening the EU's internal market, and blocking draft legislation that is not essential.

The EU presidency is rotated between member countries every six months. The strategic agenda-setting power of each national presidency has diminished since the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

The treaty established a permanent presidency (now held by Poland's Donald Tusk) and permanent foreign policy chief to carry out much of the behind-the-scenes deal-shaping and brokering previously carried out by each national presidency.